Self Love
by ConfusedColumbia26220
Summary: Takes place during 6x14 Page 23. Regina finally loves herself. MayorQueen.
1. Chapter 1

Regina embraced the Evil Queen, and the Queen hesitantly reciprocated. So many emotions surged through the both of them. The Queen held onto her better half harder, a strangled sob escaping her throat.

"I love you," Regina murmured. She ran gentle fingers through the Queen's long hair.

"It hurts!" the Queen choked out. "It hurts so much."

"I'm not letting go," Regina promised. "I've got you."

"Your heart… it's so broken." It was so painful. So, so painful. But there was a beauty in it as well.

"Yes, but you're just finally feeling your own. Thirty years of heartbreak coming at you all at once. But I've got you."

The Queen kept holding onto Regina, not wanting to let go.

Regina's hand gently found the Queen's face, stroking her tears away.

The Queen shuddered, looking at Regina confused, not used to being treated so tenderly. Or looked at with such kindness.

Regina leaned in and touched her lips to the Queen's.

The Queen gasped into the kiss, but returned it, one of her hands grasping Regina's cheek.

When the kiss broke, the Queen saw Regina's hopeful eyes looking back at her. "I love you, too."

Regina smiled at her. "We are our own happy ending. Robin's gone, Emma's got Hook, Mal's got Lily… All I need is you."

"This office is a mess," the Queen pointed out randomly.

"That's not important. It's only things in a room."

The Queen managed a smile of her own. She held Regina even closer. She never wanted to be apart from her other half again.


	2. Chapter 2

"Don't even think about it," Regina growled, using her own body to shield the Evil Queen.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked. "We can finally get rid of her. She can be killed now without you getting hurt in the process, right?"

Perhaps showing up at Granny's had been a terrible idea.

Regina eyed her sister. "Come on, Greenie. She's your favorite half."

Zelena scoffed. "Excuse you, she tried to kill me."

"That was before! There is no good half and evil half anymore, we're both gray. I almost killed her, but I stopped because she is still a part of me. If any of you really accepted me when we were in the same body, you wouldn't be doing this now! We're the same. I love her, and she is staying, and she gets to live."

The Queen swallowed thickly, so unused to having anyone protect her so fiercely. Regina had gone from her enemy to something much more fulfilling in the blink of an eye. She wrapped her arms around Regina's waist protectively from behind, now wishing she hadn't used the scissors. "It's true. I am deeply sorry for all the pain that I've caused, but I have also saved your asses a whole hell of a lot. I did what needed doing when no one else could."

"She's still my mom," Henry piped up. "Even if she did steal my author pen."

"Oh." The Queen slid it out from her sleeve, holding it out without letting go of Regina. "You can have it back now, I don't need anything written for me."

Henry calmly took it. He looked at Emma. "It's bad enough you're marrying Hook, but if you hurt my mom, I will hate you."

Both Regina and the Queen gasped.

"So, let me get this straight." Emma narrowed her eyes. "You're in love with yourself?"

"No other love could be truer," Regina stated seriously. "Maybe when you finally accept yourself someday, you'll know what that feels like. I'm the only one that can truly understand and accept myself, and that's the only thing I ever needed. No one else can ever be there in quite the same way." Regina tilted her head enough to capture the Queen's lips.

Her words made the Queen's lightened heart soar. The kiss gave her butterflies she had only known when Daniel had been alive.

"Yeah, that's sort of adorable," Snow commented. "But you'd really win me over if you'd give me my husband back."

"I'm afraid only he and yourself can undo what's been done. You two always find each other somehow," the Queen told her.

Snow sighed.

"You kinda do," Henry agreed. "If you can wake him from a coma, you can wake yourselves from this. Don't give up your famous hope."

"Now, if you'd excuse us… I'm going to take myself home." Regina and the Queen's combined magic engulfed them in a swirl of purple smoke and carried them to Regina's mansion.

Regina turned in the Queen's arms. "Welcome home." She caressed her cheek.

The Queen smiled, a tear of happiness trickling out her eye. "You really mean it."

"Of course I do. You belong with me and always have. I'm just sorry it took us both so long to realize it."

"So Cupid's arrow did work the way Father intended, after all. It did lead me to love."

"That's right."


	3. Chapter 3

The Queen twisted and turned, then jolted awake with a gasping breath and a racing heart. Regina, previously sleeping beside her, woke. She looked at her with concerned yet knowing eyes.

"King again?" she whispered. Regina placed a hand on her cheek, stroking it soothingly.

The Queen shook her head, almost choking on air.

Regina gently pulled her into her arms. "Mother?"

"No…" The Queen buried her face in Regina's shoulder.

Regina kissed the top of her head. "Death?"

A sob answered that question. "Yours," the Queen choked out. "They impaled you…"

"It was just a dream," Regina murmured. "Nothing's going to happen to me, Queenie." She rubbed her back in soothing circles.

"…a-a-and… The baby…" Regina caught snippets in otherwise incoherent babbling.

"Baby?" That piqued Regina's interest. She gently pried the Queen's head off her shoulder, tilting her chin up. "What baby?"

"Ours. You were pregnant."

Regina shook her head. "That's impossible."

The Queen took in a breath. "Not anymore." She tried to calm down.

"Unless…" Regina's jaw dropped a little. "Having two bodies…?"

"Reversed it," the Queen murmured. "You could already be…"

"Who did it? In your dream. Who killed me?" Regina asked seriously.

The Queen looked away. "Maleficent."

Regina gasped. "Mal?! Why –"

"Payback."

Regina's mouth opened and closed a few times. "No. Last week it was you and the Charmings. Next week it will probably be the dwarves. But none of them are going to happen. None."

"I don't want you to die, Regina."

"Not going to happen." Regina pressed a loving kiss to her forehead. "A baby… That, I'd enjoy." She smiled at her. "I will be careful to avoid being anywhere near Mal if it turns out I am pregnant. I won't leave the house if it makes you feel better."

"Thank you. It might be silly and some kind of overcompensating stress thing, but better safe than sorry if it's a warning."

"Love is overwhelming and makes you worry." Regina stroked stray tears away from the Queen's face. "And so very worth every moment."

The Queen held her tighter. She pressed a kiss to her lips, glad she was safe in her arms and not bleeding out on a street somewhere in town.

Regina eagerly returned the kiss, holding her Queen close. She needed nothing else to make her happy.

Except maybe that baby her Queen had mentioned.


	4. Chapter 4

Regina leaned in the doorway with a smile, watching herself. Her other self. The Yin to her Yang. Listening to the rapid clicks of her fingers on the keyboard. "You use that thing more than I ever have," she teased lovingly.

"Well, you're Mayor, and there can only be one. I've got to do something when you're gone."

Regina chuckled. "Except I'm right here, dear. You're becoming one with technology. Should I regret allowing you internet access?"

"I don't know, would you regret an extra million dollars?"

Regina tilted her head. "What does that mean? You're not hacking into banks, are you?"

The Queen scoffed. "Nooo. I'm using my powers for good. Our son has rubbed off a bit on me."

"What does that have to do with a million dollars?"

"He may be 'the' author, but my manuscript got a book deal, and I am going to be published. Under a pseudonym, of course. Evangelina Windsor is about to be New York's next best #1 seller. I am just finishing up some editing. And then I need to get started on the sequel."

Regina blinked. "Pardon?"

"Book deal. This novel is 500 pages long, and some big name publisher wants it. More than one, actually. They kept offering higher and higher amounts until only one could afford it. We'll be getting one million as soon as it goes to print. Two more if I can get the sequel out within a year. And of course, royalties. About 30% of every book sold, plus 10% of the initial million for every thousand sold." The Queen got up from the chair in front of the computer and knelt in front of Regina, gently nuzzling her face against her belly. "This baby deserves the world, and I don't want money to be a problem."

"Why am I just now hearing about this?!" Regina squealed. "That's amazing!"

"I didn't want to jinx anything or have false hope." The Queen smiled up at her and rose back up to her feet.

"Evangelina Windsor?"

"It sounds pretty and elegant."

"Just like you."

The Queen smiled, resting a hand on Regina's belly, gently rubbing it. "How's Mama doing today? Baby's not causing trouble, I hope."

Regina was about 29 weeks along, just over 7 months. "We're okay. Though it might be time for maternity leave soon. If you're not too busy with your book, maybe you can take over?"

"Regina." The Queen gave her a look. "I am not running around town without you while you're on maternity leave. I want to take care of you. Let Snow take over again."

"Woman's got twins running around now," Regina pointed out.

"Those Charmings waste no time after breaking a curse to breed. Your point?"

"Remember what she did to the office last time? It was horrible."

"Emma, then?"

"She and Hook just had their baby like last week."

"Zelena? She's only got Robin. She's boring."

Regina chuckled. "I will think about it. But you never know. Maybe she's becoming a famous singer as we speak."

The Queen poked her tongue out at her.

"Do I get to read your novel?"

"As soon as it's published, love. Nothing should surprise you, though. It's our story, told in a fantasy, fictional setting with some names switched around so Disney doesn't come after me."

Regina scoffed. "Disney." She rolled her eyes. Then she smiled. "Well, it's about time it's told from our side. How far have you gotten?"

"It ends with meeting Snow, or Isobel."

Regina let out a breath. "Long way to go."

"Yes. It's only the beginning." The Queen kissed her, pouring her love into it. She was so grateful to have her.

Regina returned the kiss happily, wrapping her arms around her. She was glad her Queen had found something meaningful to do with all her spare time. She couldn't wait for their baby to meet her and love her. To raise a baby together, truly. Their baby. And that someday that baby might read their story? That was the scariest, yet most amazing possibility.


End file.
